


The regrets of a dying man

by Justafewthingstosay



Series: Taz Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: After episode 28, Homophobia, M/M, i don't really know how to tag this tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-07 09:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19206397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justafewthingstosay/pseuds/Justafewthingstosay
Summary: In his last moments, Ned looked back upon his life and found himself content





	The regrets of a dying man

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me while I was walking my dog. I don't know why or how, but here it is.

# 

 

Ned Chicane regretted a lot of things in his life. And now in his last moments, they all came back to him. 

 

One of the biggest things that he regrets was coming out to his parents at 16. He didn’t mean to do it, knowing how his parents were, but they caught him, sitting on his bed with his first boyfriend, they had thought that they were alone that evening. So they had put on music and just hung out, and then in the moments of their first kiss, Ned’s mother came into the room. 

 

She had started shouting before Ned could even acknowledge that she was there. He was homeless an hour later, with only 25 dollars, his old beaten up truck and a duffle bag with some clothes. 

 

He regretted that he never finished High School, he didn’t really have a choice, he didn’t have a home, he had an old beaten up truck that he lived in. He lived out of trash can’s for the better part of six months. He took shady jobs left and right, just to get by. 

 

He was just a kid when he lost his entire family. When he lost everything he knew. 

 

He did not regret his first act of thievery. He didn’t regret stealing the wallet of the asshole that he saw almost every day. 

 

His truck was parked on a Wal-Mart parking lot when he first saw the man. He was around 20, drove an expensive car and just looked like the biggest jerk. 

 

Ned was standing at one of the small fridges that they had at the checkout lines. The clerk that was standing at the register was a young woman, she had been nice to Ned, always keeping the day-old bread that they weren’t allowed to sell anymore for him. Sometimes she even gave him a water bottle or two. 

 

That was why it rubbed him especially wrong when this dickhead of a man walked up and started complaining to the woman.    
  
“You call this service? I can have you fired immediately!” he yelled. Ned saw the woman flinch when the man raised his voice.

 

“Sir, I am in no obligation to give you my personal number, just because you ask for it,” she mumbled, clearly terrified of what the man would say. 

 

Before Ned could even think, his feet already moved him over to the scene. “Is this man bothering you, Lilian?” he asked her carefully, not even looking at the man. 

“It’s okay, Ned. Don’t get involved in this, I can handle it.” 

  
She was still whispering, her hands were shaking and she looked like she was about to cry, so Ned was definitely not going to leave.

 

“Sir, could you please leave the lady alone?” Ned asked his voice ice cold. 

 

The man grinned, revealing two rows of whitened teeth and Ned wanted to punch him in the mouth so much that it was almost physically painful for him to not do so. “I don’t think I will.” 

 

“Leave her the fuck alone, or you will regret it,” he hissed out at the man, venom in his voice and to his surprise, the man threw some money on the counter, grabbed his drink and walked out of the store. 

 

Ned turned to Lilian, who was slowly relaxing. “You okay?” 

 

The girl just nodded and smiled softly. “Yeah,” she stopped speaking for a second, looking at her hands, before looking back at Ned. “Can you come by again later? My shift ends at 6, I made some sandwiches for you.”

 

Ned smiled from ear to ear. “I will, thank you.” 

 

As he walked out of the store, he didn’t expect two strong hands to grab him by the scruff of his neck and press him against the wall. It was the guy from the store. “If you think I’m letting you get away with this, then you’re so wrong.” 

 

He just looked back at the man, when he noticed that his hand was on the perfect height to just quickly grab the mans wallet from his coat pocket. 

 

“So what are you do to me, huh?” Ned smiled out, he was fed up with this bastard. He was one of those people that did nothing to actually own the money that they used to buy themselves out of everything. So he did it. He grabbed the wallet and shoved it in his sweater pocket, just before the other man let him go, just to punch him in the face. 

 

Ned had never actually been punched before that moment and he fell to the ground, his one hand on his bleeding nose, he could feel his heartbeat in the section that the man punched.

 

The man kicked him in the ribs for good measure, before spitting on him and walking back to his car. 

 

Back then, Ned regretted that he didn’t stand up and follow the guy, now he was wiser, knew that that would have been a stupid idea. So he sat there, waiting for nothing. His sweater was streaked with his own blood, the dried blood under his nose spread from him touching it. 

 

It was almost eight pm when Lilian came out and found him. She gave him the promised sandwiches, helped clean him up and then she tried to kiss him. 

When he didn’t kiss back, she just gave him a sad smile accompanied by a nod.    
  


Ned had frantically apologised, before he ran out of the store, jumped into his car and fled town. He never saw Lilian again. 

 

He didn’t regret his years with Boyd. 

 

Yes, it didn’t turn out well in the end, but his time with Boyd was the first time that he could be true to himself, where he could be honest with his feelings without being judged. 

 

But then came the night that changed everything. The night they broke into Aubrey’s home. Another one of his regrets. 

 

This one was a big one on the Ned Chicane regret scale. Not only did he convince himself that it was his fault that Aubrey’s mother died, but he also told himself that he could have saved Boyd if he had only tried a little harder. 

 

He regretted not telling Aubrey sooner. He just didn’t know how. How do you tell one of the only people that you care about that you are responsible for a horrible event that happened in their lives? 

  
He hoped that one day, she could forgive herself. That she would the hatred that she had for herself onto him. He deserved to be hated. Even if it broke his heart.

 

He regretted not telling Duck how grateful he was for him. Duck was one of his closest friends in Kepler, the first to give him enough of a chance to become friends. 

 

He regretted not telling Barclay how he felt about him, but now it was too late. 

 

Ned regretted so many things in his life, but becoming part of the pine guard, becoming part of this amazingly weird family was never one of the things he regretted. 

 

He also didn’t regret taking that bullet. Dani still had a lot more time on this earth than he did. She had love in the form of Aubrey. 

 

She deserved to live and he did not. 

 

At least that’s what he told himself, to not be angry at the world. This was his fate, his destiny. 

 

And he didn’t regret that. 

 

He would never regret saving Dani. 

 

So when he looked at the stars in those last moments he had on earth. He didn’t regret a thing, because everything he did, had brought him here. 

To his destiny. 

  
To his death. 

 

To a moment, he would never regret. 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on[Tumblr!](https://marveldevil.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Justthingstbh)  
> Come say hi if you want to, or send me a prompt!


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